Trump has abandoned Netanyahu. The US-Israel relationship is in peril

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On Sunday, Trump called a new offensive “highly unlikely”, but only so long as talks progressed – and his position changes from one day to the next. Netanyahu has made removing…

Among the many strange and unexpected things Donald Trump said during the midterm elections, one statement was truly shocking. As Americans voted, Trump announced, almost casually, that US military aid to Israel would cease by the end of 2026. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said it felt “like a bolt from the blue”.

The statement was unexpected because Trump has styled himself as the “most pro-Israel President ever”. It also reverses decades of bipartisan consensus about US military support for Israel.

Now, a new US consensus is emerging, one that may redefine Israel’s most important relationship and leave the Jewish state more isolated than ever.

Trump made his announcement in a phone call to Fox News. He said Israel no longer needed the nearly $4bn the US gives it every year for weapons. Later, on CBS’s 60 Minutes, he blamed the Republican wipeout in the midterms on “a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel”, along with the linked issues of the Iran war and rising petrol prices.

In a typical Trumpian flourish, he added: “Without us, Israel would not exist… Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump.” (Trump also told Fox that if Americans ever tired of him, he would “move to Israel, become prime minister”.)

While Trump caught many by surprise, he said that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, knew what was coming: “We made a deal months ago that we’re stopping and they’re fine with it.”

Netanyahu told reporters days before his country’s own elections last month that US military aid would end. “Get used to the fact that we won’t [keep receiving it], because America has changed,” he said. “It’s over. It’s only a matter of time.” Netanyahu’s office posted on X last week that the move “from aid to partnership shows the strength and sophistication of our relationship”.

In reality, however, the Israeli leader was likely trying to get ahead of increasingly hostile public opinion in the US.

The wars in Iran and Gaza have increasingly turned US public opinion against…

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